


Dead Inside?

by raggamuffin44



Category: The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: angsty, but mando is worried, gender neutral reader, reader plays feelings off as a joke
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-21
Updated: 2020-01-21
Packaged: 2021-02-27 16:33:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 889
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22346461
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/raggamuffin44/pseuds/raggamuffin44
Summary: After the events of episode 8, Mando and reader are on the Crest when the reader asks about the helmet situation, and if they're dead inside, would that mean they could see his face. In both a jokey and angsty way?
Relationships: Din Djarin/Reader, Din Djarin/You, The Mandalorian (The Mandalorian TV)/Reader, The Mandalorian/Reader
Kudos: 100





	Dead Inside?

The Crest was quiet apart from the various hums of the engine. This wasn’t particularly unusual, but the silence was almost overwhelming after today’s events. You were sat in the co-pilot seat, watching Mando as he flew, the Child sat in your lap chewing on the mythosaur pendant he’d already grown attached to. He hadn’t said a word since the pair of you said goodbye to Greef and Cara.

Thoughts consumed your mind about what had happened when you left Mando and IG-11 alone in what was left of that cantina back on Nevarro. You saw the blood on Cara’s hand, and it sent a chill through your body as he told you to leave him there to die a warrior’s death. But a few minutes later, he was back with you again, and seemingly fine.

“How’s your head?” you spoke into the silence.

It took him a second to respond, “… it’s fine.”

Your eyes bore into the back of his helmet as you contemplated his answer, “Are you sure? You took a nasty hit back there?”

He turned his head to look at you, “I’m fine, IG put some bacta spray on it. It’ll be okay until we stop somewhere and I can take a look at it myself.”

You nodded in response, and sat silent again for few minutes before his words dawned on you, “Wait, you took the helmet off?” your eyebrows rose in shock as you spoke, “What about the Creed?”

“I technically haven’t broken the Creed. No living thing has seen me without the helmet since I swore it, and IG… technically wasn’t a living thing.” he paused briefly at the mention of IG-11, and you swore you heard his voice falter slightly.

“So, there’s kind of a loophole?”

“I guess you could call it that, yes.” he replied curtly.

“So if I was to say I was dead _inside_ , would that count for anything?” 

He stiffened, and flicked a few switches to turn on auto-pilot, before turning his chair to face you, “What are you talking about?”

“It was a joke, Mando.” you smiled, hoping he’d turn back around and drop it, but he leaned forward and rested his forearms on his knees instead. Even though you can’t see his eyes through the visor, you could feel them on you, like they’re peering into your soul, “It doesn’t sound like a joke to me.”

You hang your head, and look at the now sleeping Child in your lap, pendant half hanging out of his mouth. You remove it from his mouth and hold it briefly, running your thumb over it.

“Y/n, talk to me.” he spoke so softly, and the mix between his actual words and the tone in which he spoke them made you look up at him, where he could see a stray tear fall down your cheek.

“It’s nothing, really.” and even though you couldn’t see his face, you could just tell he had an eyebrow raised. And if you were shocked by the softness of his voice a second ago, then you were floored when you watched him reach his hands over and wrap them around the hand that held the pendant.

“Please”, you heard the same falter in his voice as when he spoke about IG just a few minutes prior.

“It’s just… I’ve never had a real home in this galaxy. I never really fit in anywhere. If you want to make it anywhere, you have to shut off that part of yourself, you know? The part that’s longing for something, or someone to call home. Connections just lead to disappointment. Travelling with you and the Child is the first time in a _long_ time that I’ve actually been happy, as stupid as it may sound.” he squeezed your hand slightly as you spoke.

“It doesn’t sound stupid to me. It sounds familiar to me, if anything. Swearing the Creed, and promising a life behind this helmet… I shut that part of me off too. The Mandalorians were my home for so long, I never needed to look further than the covert. But having the Child, and then finding you… it’s made me think that maybe I do have another home?” His voice was so vulnerable, even through the modulator, and you wonder if this is the first time he’s ever bared his heart to someone before. The fact that it’s you who he’s chosen to bare it to is overwhelming, and tears brim in your eyes once more.

“Mando…” you breathe shakily.

“You know my name now, y/n, you can use it.”

“Din…” the unfamiliar feel of his name on your lips makes you smile, “I guess you’ve proven me wrong.” His helmet tilts to the side in confusion.

“I guess I’m not dead inside after all, not while I’ve got you two.” 

“Good.” He straightens back up, and slowly lets go of your hand after giving it one last squeeze. You smile wider at him before he turns back round and takes control of the ship again.

There’s a comfortable silence now, rather than the suffocating one earlier. “So I suppose me still being alive inside means I won’t get to see what’s under the helmet then?” you smirk as you speak.

The smile underneath his helmet mirrors your own, “Maybe one day.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading <3


End file.
